


Earworm

by ab_initio



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Fluff, Humor, Light-Hearted, M/M, Pre-Canon, Romance, Slow Burn, Soulmate AU, Victor spelled Viktor, add more tags as we go, eventually, kinda cute, music connection between soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24836995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab_initio/pseuds/ab_initio
Summary: Earworm - n. A song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mindIt first happened a few days after Yuuri turned 12.He had heard about this phenomenon growing up. When you turn 12, once a week you will hear whatever song has been stuck in your soulmate’s head. While it wasn’t a great way of identifying one another, it was a small glimpse into their lives. Yuuri had heard tales of people recording what songs they heard, compiling them into playlists, and posting those playlists to internet forums in an attempt to find the other person who had those same songs stuck in their head. As a child, Yuuri found it all quite silly. The chances of finding your soulmate based on a few songs seemed impossible, but it supposedly worked for people. Maybe I’ll understand when I’m older, when the songs begin for me, he thought.And then that day came, almost without him noticing.Soulmate AU where starting from age 12, once a week, you hear what song has been stuck in your soulmate’s head.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 19
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, hello everyone. It has been literal years since I have written a fanfic so bear with me. This idea just suddenly popped in my head and I couldn't get it out (just like an actual earworm haha get it) so I decided to write it! I have the first few chapters outlined but I am not quite sure how long it will be! Hopefully you enjoy!

It first happened a few days after Yuuri turned 12. 

He had heard about this phenomenon growing up. When you turn 12, once a week you will hear whatever song has been stuck in your soulmate’s head. While it wasn’t a great way of identifying one another, it was a small glimpse into their lives. Yuuri had heard tales of people recording what songs they heard, compiling them into playlists, and posting those playlists to internet forums in an attempt to find the other person who had those same songs stuck in their head. As a child, Yuuri found it all quite silly. The chances of finding your soulmate based on a few songs seemed impossible, but it supposedly worked for people. _Maybe I’ll understand when I’m older, when the songs begin for me,_ he thought. 

And then that day came, almost without him noticing.

It began softly, just the sound of a few soft strings that slowly grew more and more powerful until it reached an overwhelming and joyous conclusion. And it played again. And again. And again. 

He couldn’t seem to get it out of his head the whole day. He also couldn’t seem to place where he had heard it before. He wasn’t that much into classical music, but there it was - _stuck_ in his head. He tried to think of something else but to no avail. In the back of his mind he briefly thought about the soulmate connection but didn’t dwell on it too deeply. 

Several weeks later he found himself in front of the TV in the lobby of the Ice Castle with Yuuko and Takeshi watching the Junior World Championships. Several skaters danced and jumped across the screen with Yuuri paying little attention to them. However, Yuuko drew his attention to one skater - Viktor Nikiforov. Even if Yuuri didn’t want to pay attention, he found himself drawn to the screen. There was something about the way the skater moved across the ice, almost like he was floating. His long silver hair had a dance of its own that was perfectly in tandem with the movement of his body. And the _music_ . The swell of the strings that filled Yuuri with an overwhelming joy as Viktor glided across the ice with his arms spread wide as if the music was pouring out of him. Yuuri knew that music from _somewhere_. But where? 

He racked his brain for possibilities. Maybe it had been on the radio. Maybe one of the guests at the onsen had been playing it. He couldn’t think of why this song Viktor skated to sounded _so_ familiar. Not only was it familiar, but it drew him in. He needed _more_ of it. 

The performance was over all too quickly. 

As soon as he could, Yuuri found a recording of Viktor’s performance online. Every day Yuuri would watch Viktor skate. In the morning, before school. After school, while learning the routine with Yuuko on the ice. While falling asleep, with Viktor dancing across his phone screen which lay next to him in his bed. Yuuri thought of Viktor’s song constantly and found himself humming it at all hours of the day. _What a beautiful song._

Yuuri never could remember where he had heard it before. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viktor lay in bed, finally able to catch his breath after several crazy weeks following his victory at the Junior World Championships. The whirlwind of media attention when he returned victorious was overwhelming and he found himself barely getting a moment to himself. Luckily, he finally had a day off. At only 16 he recognized the dedication and time it took to be a professional athlete, but there were some days he just wished to be a normal teenager. Today he vowed it would be one of those days. He would just be Viktor. Not Viktor, _best Junior figure skater_ . Not Viktor, _world record setter_ . Just _Viktor_. 

Then he heard it.

The soft strings slowly grew with intensity until they reached a joyous climax. He knew it all too well. It was his free skate music. 

Of all the things he wanted to hear today, it was _that music_. He had enough of it! 

He shook his head, frustrated, as if attempting to push the earworm out by force. Suddenly he paused and rushed to the calendar on his desk. Starting from when he turned 12, he had kept a special calendar for one purpose - recording when he heard songs from his soulmate. Viktor, even at age 12, was invested in the idea that he could identify his soulmate just through the songs he would get stuck in his head once a week. Even now at 16, he was just as invested at recording when the songs occurred and figuring out what the songs were. Though he may never meet his soulmate, this was enough. He didn’t have many friends but all he needed were those songs once a week. It was a special gift, just for him. 

It started very simply. After getting a song stuck in his head in a foreign language he could not recognize shortly after his 12th birthday, he bought a calendar and began recording. Since he had no idea what the lyrics were or even how to begin to record them in a way to look them up, he just marked the date - _First Soulmate Song <3 _. 

It quickly became what he looked forward to most in his week. Especially during the competitive season where the only music he heard was his own short program and free skate music and the music of his rinkmates. The weekly occurring pop songs in that strange foreign language and occasionally English were a special treat. Eventually, he was able to figure out the mystery language after singing one of the songs his soulmate had gotten stuck in their head for several weeks in a row in the locker room at his rink. One of his rinkmates recognized it from a popular Japanese anime and excitedly asked Viktor if he was also a fan. Viktor had to quickly tell him ‘no’ and explain it was from his soulmate. Despite disappointing his rinkmate, Viktor had one more piece of information about his soulmate. They knew Japanese and English. Maybe they were from Japan! So far away, but that was somewhere. And they enjoyed anime! Even without a face or even a name, Viktor still felt close to his soulmate.

He wondered if his soulmate felt the same way. 

Looking at the days on his calendar, he realized that today was exactly a week since he last heard from his soulmate. 

His soulmate’s earworm had been his free skate music.

_How?_

Flipping through the calendar, he skimmed through the songs he had recorded and identified from the past few months. All of them were pop songs in either Japanese or English. Never any classical or instrumental pieces had been heard. This was definitely a change of taste in his soulmate. Viktor found it quite peculiar that the change in taste was not only to classical music, but to the exact song he had skated to. He briefly wondered if his soulmate had somehow heard the song from watching him skate and had gotten it stuck in their head. He smiled at the thought of his soulmate watching him dance across the ice and wondered if they were a fan. Had they watched his performance multiple times and accidentally got the song stuck in their head? Did they think he was talented? Did they also skate? 

Viktor shook his head and laughed at himself. While he was a bit of a romantic, even _he_ thought his daydream was a bit silly. There had to be a more reasonable explanation for the earworm. However, a part of him wished his daydream was true. Somewhere out there was his soulmate, watching him skate. 

But honestly, what were the chances of that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments so far! I initially planned for this chapter to be a bit longer but I opted to have this chapter focus more on Yuuri and the next chapter will be more Viktor-centric to see how they both are impacted by the earworms during this time. Hope you all enjoy!

While it started out innocently as a way to learn more about professional skating, Yuuri very quickly became completely obsessed with Viktor. While he did watch other skaters with awe, nothing compared to the feelings he had while watching Viktor skate. He spent his free time searching online for performances, practice videos, interviews - anything that had Viktor in it. He even went so far as to ask his parents for a toy poodle just to name after Viktor. 

Yuuri often felt as if he should be more embarrassed about his obsession with Viktor but when it was just him and Viktor’s music out on the ice, he could feel nothing less than adoration for the talent that Viktor had. He longed for the day that he could skate on the same ice as Viktor and perform as an equal, not just a young fan in an unknown city skating alone.

His weeks were filled with Viktor’s music and the music of other skaters. In an attempt to get more serious about skating, Yuuri opted to listen to more instrumental music in his free time and less of his childhood favorite pop songs. He was truly dedicated to fully immersing himself into the lifestyle of a figure skater. However, every once in a while, a new and unknown song would trickle into his head and stay there all day with no way of truly getting it out. He knew it was an earworm from his soulmate but often didn’t pay much mind to the idea of them. Despite the universe having selected someone perfectly for him, Yuuri preferred the person he had stumbled upon himself - Viktor. 

Yuuri was not like some of his friends who would pay close attention to the songs their soulmate was listening to. Yuuko even had a journal set aside just for recording the lyrics of the songs she heard to later search them up in an attempt to understand the interests of her soulmate. Yuuri would laugh at her as once a week a heavy metal song would get stuck in her head and while she couldn’t help but be annoyed by it, she listened to every tune carefully and recorded it with as much detail as possible.  _ It’s perfect, you know. Even if I don’t like it, I love that person, whoever they are, _ she would insist. Yuuri didn’t quite understand it. 

Today was no different. A week had passed since last hearing an unknown instrumental tune from his soulmate but instead of just instrumental sounds today, Yuuri heard lyrics in his head in a language he did not know. Pausing, he focused to see if he could place it among a language he might have heard on the TV. It wasn’t English - he was already starting to learn English and none of the sounds made sense when trying to pick out possible words. Listening closer there was something about the how guttural yet musical the lyrics sounded that reminded him of listening to Viktor speak. Searching quickly for an interview with Viktor online, he found a recording of him speaking in Russian. While Yuuri wasn’t quite certain if his guess was correct, it sounded to him as if the lyrics in his head were in Russian. 

Yuuri felt his heart beat loudly in his chest.

First his earworms were all just instrumental music and now a song with Russian lyrics? Who was this person? Were they from Russia or did they just happen to like a song with Russian lyrics? Why did their taste in music change? As all these questions rushed around his head, two things were made very certain, 

  1. He needed to learn Russian. Even if it was just to understand Viktor’s interviews better, it might prove helpful to understand his soulmate if they continued to listen to Russian songs.
  2. He should invest in some way to record when and what songs he heard as earworms to start to find patterns about his soulmate. 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the skating season restarted after the break from World Championships, Yuuri and Yuuko were eagerly watching the TV in the Ice Castle after an afternoon of practice. Their eyes were glued to the screen, not wanting to miss the moment Viktor would step out onto the ice and premiere his new routines for the season. Viktor glided across the screen to the center of the rink and Yuuri found himself holding his breath as the music began. 

Viktor pushed off from his initial pose with a flurry of movement and energy. He immediately began to prepare his body for his first jump and flew off the ice with a power that seemed to set the air around him on fire. Yuuri watched as Viktor spun in time with the frantic music that flowed out of the speakers. Muted horn notes complemented his jumps and the movement of his arms as his feet danced along with the unrelenting rhythm of the piano. His step sequences and spins were mesmerizing, but Yuuri found himself focused on something entirely different. 

The  _ music _ . 

He  _ knew _ he had heard it somewhere before. It brushed his ears like an old friend and he grasped through his memories to pinpoint when and where he had heard it. As he watched Viktor spin into his final pose, it came to him. 

It was an  _ earworm _ .

Somehow, in the past few weeks, his soulmate had gotten Viktor’s short program music stuck in their heads and Yuuri heard it.  _ How? _

“Yuuri?” Yuuko’s voice shook Yuuri out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah?” 

“Are you okay? I was asking what you thought about Viktor’s performance but you were totally out of it.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry… I thought it was great! Really, really beautiful!” he nervously chuckled. Yuuko beamed at him. 

“I know! He is always so wonderful and this season will be no different. He really surprised me with his music choice!”

“Oh yeah, me too, it was… unexpected.” Yuuri couldn’t quite shake the feeling he had. Why did he know the piece? Why had he heard it before? Why had Viktor used it for his short program? Maybe it was a really famous piece and he hadn’t realized it. It isn’t exactly easy to search for an instrumental piece when you just hear it in your head. 

A day passed and Yuuri found himself again at the Ice Castle with Yuuko waiting expectantly for Viktor’s free skate performance. Yuuri found himself anxious not only to watch Viktor skate, but also to hear the music Viktor had chosen. While Yuuri wanted to chalk up his recognition of Viktor’s short program music to a mere coincidence and wanted the free skate music to confirm his suspicions, part of him  _ wanted _ to recognize the free skate music as an earworm. 

Viktor settled at the center of their screen. The music began softly out of the speakers, just a few plucks of a harp. As Viktor began to move, the harp was joined by a violin and a flute all blending together into a beautiful and innocent melody. Time seemed to stop while Viktor was dancing across the ice. When Viktor finished, Yuuri let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He turned to Yuuko. 

“That was… amazing. I’ve never heard or seen anything so beautiful in my life! Have you, Yuuri?” 

Yuuri nodded in agreement and looked back to the screen where Viktor sat at the kiss and cry awaiting his score. Yuuri hadn’t seen anything so beautiful in his life before. But Yuuri  _ had _ heard something that beautiful before. 

He had heard that song before as an earworm. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s how it began. With those first recognitions, Yuuri soon realized with each passing season that he could not only recognize the songs Viktor would skate to, but that if he paid close enough attention to the notes he made about his earworms, he could predict what songs Viktor would be performing to. Short program, free skate, exhibitions - Yuuri knew it all before anyone saw Viktor at a competition. 

By the time Yuuri was 15, he made it into a sort of game between himself and Yuuko as to who could better predict what music Viktor would skate to. Yuuri always found himself victorious in his guesses based solely on his earworms. Both Yuuko and Yuuri were huge fans of Viktor and while they both claimed to know Viktor best, Yuuri seemed to have a special connection with the music Viktor chose for his routines. 

“Maybe  _ you _ are Viktor’s soulmate!” Takeshi teased while bumping him in the shoulder while walking home one evening. 

“Oh my goodness imagine how crazy cool that would be!” Yuuko squealed. “You both are skaters and are destined for each other! Maybe you’ll fall in love by skating together! Or, or, by meeting at a competition! Imagine how cute that would be! You would be so lucky.” She sighed longingly. 

Yuuri felt himself blush brightly at the notion of being Viktor’s soulmate. While part of his heart longed for that to be true, Yuuri’s brain knew it was much more likely that his soulmate was just another ordinary person. Maybe that person was a fan of Viktor as well, which was why they knew all the songs for the routines. Perhaps they worked at the rink that Viktor skated at - that would explain the Russian and knowing the music ahead of time. Or maybe his obsession with Viktor had grown to such heights that he had the same music taste as Viktor, just by accident. 

“I really don’t think so.” Yuuri whispered, almost to himself. However, as he looked to the setting sun filling the sky with a warm orange and pink glow he wondered that if by some miracle Viktor  _ was _ his soulmate, that Viktor would skate for him alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again with another chapter that got a little out of hand and ended up twice as long as the other chapters were... whoops. This will focus more on Viktor just as promised. Thanks for all the positive response so far!

In the two years that had passed since Viktor first heard his own free skate music as an earworm, he had noted a remarkable transformation about the music that would get stuck in his soulmate’s head. While, yes, some weeks it was back to the usual pop songs (and was that heavy metal once?), most weeks were instrumental songs ranging from standard classical pieces to contemporary works. Viktor happily welcomed whatever songs his soulmate was currently obsessed with each week and worked diligently to determine the identity of each piece, no matter how difficult it was. It particularly warmed his chest on days where he recognized an earworm as a piece of music he had skated to in the past. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander to that first fantasy of his soulmate being someone who had watched him skate. Even if they were a crazy fan, they  _ knew _ who Viktor was and while he wasn’t quite sure who they were yet, it still made him feel close to them. 

Despite this unknown distance between himself and his soulmate, he had been able to pinpoint some characteristics about this mysterious person. The first was the language his soulmate most likely spoke. All of the songs that had lyrics were either in Japanese or in English with a majority of them in Japanese. Viktor took this as an indication that his soulmate most likely was a native speaker of Japanese and lived in Japan. Secondly, the instrumental pieces Viktor had been able to identify were either pieces he had skated to before or they were pieces that would work well for a skating program, in his opinion. This led Viktor to make a series of predictions about the hobbies of his soulmate. The first was that his soulmate was a really big skating fan that not only watched Viktor but also watched other skaters frequently and repeatedly to get different skater’s program music stuck in their head. The second theory (though perhaps more far-fetched) was that this person was not only a fan of Viktor’s but they were also a skater themselves, and the music that Viktor had not performed to was music that his soulmate was performing to. 

Viktor smiled at this thought. If his theories were correct, then his soulmate could possibly be a figure skater from Japan! This would fill Viktor with childlike hope as there were only  _ so  _ many figure skaters from Japan since the sport wasn’t very popular in that country. Viktor would scour the internet for videos of figure skaters from Japan but was never able to come up with much and none of the pieces stood out to him as something he had heard from his soulmate. He tried his best to not get his hopes up about discovering the identity of his soulmate. He constantly tried to reassure himself that soulmates were destined to find each other, with or without the help of the earworms. 

That normally put him at ease, but this week it wasn’t working. 

It wasn’t like this week was abnormal in any sense. In fact, it was quite normal and was just like the previous few weeks as competition season entered full swing. However, that was the problem. This whole month had been  _ extremely _ abnormal for his earworms.

That is, he didn’t get any. 

For the past few weeks, the only songs he would get stuck in his head were his short program or free skate music. While that was completely normal for this part of the season, what he found particularly concerning is that he didn’t hear  _ any _ distinct music throughout the week that would be from his soulmate. He didn’t want to dwell on the implications of this, but when another week passed without hearing anything from his soulmate, he couldn’t help but feel his heart sink into his stomach. 

Skating around the rink to slowly warm up for morning practice, Viktor was pushed out of his thoughts by someone skating next to him and matching his pace. 

“Are you doing alright?”

Viktor turned to see Georgi gliding next to him with a slightly concerned look on his face. “Yeah, I just have something silly on my mind.”

“What is it? You look unusually sad for this time of day.” 

Viktor chuckled, “I assure you it’s really silly. I’ll be over it soon enough.” 

“Viktor…” Georgi placed his hand on Viktor’s shoulder to get his attention again.

“Well, let’s say hypothetically… just a thought experiment… let’s say that, uh, you stopped having earworms for several weeks. Would that mean that your soulmate had…” Viktor trailed off looking anywhere but Georgi, worrying about the tears that prickled at the corners of his eyes. 

“Had died?”

“ _ Died? _ ” Viktor gasped, “I had thought that maybe they had just gone deaf but, oh my gosh, now that you mention that, that is much more reasonable and oh so much more painful.” Viktor wondered how much longer he could keep it together. His chest tightened painfully. 

“Wait, wait, Viktor, wait a moment.” Georgi tightened his grip on Viktor’s shoulder, slowing both of them to a stop, “I didn’t  _ say  _ they had died. There is one much more positive possibility about not having earworms you haven’t considered.” 

“Huh?”

“It could be that you  _ are _ having earworms, you just can’t notice them because the music your soulmate has stuck in their head is always the music you have stuck in your head!”

Viktor paused his panicked train of thought for a moment. “So they aren’t dead?” 

“I really doubt it, Viktor. If anything, you’ve already met them and that’s why the music you share is the same. Maybe they’re a fan of yours. Maybe they’re here at this rink!” Georgi and Viktor looked out across the rink to watch their rinkmates glide across the shared ice. Viktor’s gaze jumped from person to person and his eyebrows slowly raised in horror as he realized,  _ I don’t want any of these people to be my soulmate. _

Georgi’s laughter broke him out of his thoughts once again, “It’s just a  _ possibility _ , Viktor, don’t look so scared!”

Viktor found himself laughing alongside Georgi, “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t imagine being with anyone here. However, when you phrase it like that, maybe not noticing my earworms is a good thing. We are close, somehow. Whoever they are.” 

Georgi hummed in agreement next to him, “Feeling better?” 

“Much,” Viktor stood in silence next to Georgi, not quite wanting to go back to skating just yet. “How do you know that Natalia is your soulmate?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“You haven’t asked her about her earworms?”

“No. I’ve found that I don’t want the answer. What if it’s not the music I have? Then we either stay together with that lingering weight of knowing we aren’t made for one another or we break up and the search begins all over again. I know I love her without the music. Maybe one day she will turn out to be just another girlfriend but honestly for now, I’m fine living in ignorance,” Georgi smiled fondly. 

“Do you think it’s better that way?” Viktor had spent so much of his teenage years formulating his definition of love around the earworms that he hadn’t even thought of love without it. 

Georgi laughed, “You’ve seen how often I get my heart broken. I’m not a model for perfect and successful relationships but I do still love and that’s what matters to me.” 

Viktor was about to speak again when he heard Yakov yell from across the rink, “Viktor! Georgi! Since it looks like you’ve warmed up enough to stand around and chat let’s see some jumps over here!” 

Viktor and Georgi groaned and pushed away from the wall to skate over to Yakov’s grumpy figure. 

“Thank you, Georgi. Sorry I got us into trouble,” Viktor laughed shyly.

“It’s no problem, Viktor. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.” 

As practice began, Viktor was able to settle his nervous thoughts with Georgi’s comforting words. 

Shortly after, Viktor heard a familiar Japanese pop melody pleasantly invade his headspace and carry him happily throughout the day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even as Viktor reached his twentieth year of life, he found that nothing compared to the comfort he got from his weekly earworms. Some of his rinkmates called him a  _ hopeless romantic _ , even more hopeless than Georgi at times. Viktor often criticized himself for holding on so tightly to the childish notion of soulmates, but he found he couldn’t help it. His heart was pulled towards the music that flooded his brain once a week. 

He had tried, though, to separate his notion of love from the earworms. He had his fair share of first dates (and sometimes second dates). He even had some partners that stayed through the season. However, there always came a point where Viktor’s curiosity would get the best of him. While other people ruined their relationships by looking through their partner’s messages, Viktor ruined his by looking through his partner’s playlists. The disappointment that filled him each time he found that their music selection was not compatible to the earworms he had heard was overwhelming. Yet, with each relationship he could not stop himself. He tried so hard to love someone without needing their music, but he found that he could not. He somehow was more in love with the idea of the person who gave him his earworms than any person he had met in real life. 

As the new season’s training began, Viktor found himself in Yakov’s office brainstorming ideas for music selection and program composition. Yakov had played several songs for his free skate but none of them struck Viktor as the right one. He couldn’t imagine himself skating how he truly wanted to skate with those pieces and turned each one away. 

“Viktor, I can only offer you so many choices for music. You need to choose  _ something _ ,” Yakov grumbled exasperatedly, rubbing his head. This simple meeting was taking far longer than he anticipated and he had other skaters to attend to. “You know what, let’s take a break. Go out and think about the songs I offered while I talk to some other people. Come back when you have made your selection.” Viktor stiffly took the piece of paper that had Yakov’s music choices on it and walked out of his office. 

Viktor often found that he could think best on the ice and found himself slowly gliding across an empty rink. He  _ needed _ to find some music to skate to for his free skate. But it couldn’t just be anything. It had to be something special. Viktor groaned in frustration. Why couldn’t he just make a choice? He could skate to anything at this point and his fans and the judges would still eat it up. Why did this tiny choice suddenly have so much weight to it? 

Viktor couldn’t help but think of his recent breakup which still left an ache in his heart. Once again, music had left a bitter taste in his mouth and nothing was ever perfect enough for him. No music was ever the music his soulmate gave him. Maybe that was why none of the songs Yakov gave him fit. He was too jaded to think of music right now. 

He spun slowly as he racked his brain for one song he liked out of the selection Yakov gave him. Nothing, nothing. Sighing, he began to glide with more energy around the edge of the rink, moving his arms gracefully to a song that wasn’t playing. Closing his eyes, he let his body move on its own accord. As he danced, he found himself humming a tune that quickly grew with intensity. He suddenly shot across the rink and opened his eyes to prep himself for a jump. As his humming reached a peak, he pushed off the ice and landed once again in time with the rhythm playing inside of himself. His humming entered a gentler passage and he floated across the ice as if dancing with a ghost that also knew this tune just as well as he did. As the tune in his head grew again in intensity he found himself once again leaping across the ice with the silent ghost dancing along with him, in a chase now. He pressed himself into a fast and tight spin as the music reached a peak once again and quickly spun out to a final pose, arms bent slightly as if to hold his ghostly partner close to himself as the music faded out in his head. 

His chest heaved. He knew what song he wanted. He had heard it not too long ago.

For the past month his weekly earworm was just one piano piece. It took a bit of digging but he was eventually able to identify the piece as Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G minor thanks to Lilia’s mandatory lessons in Russian piano and orchestral music along with ballet lessons. Viktor had wondered why this particular piece had captured the mind of his soulmate but he found himself also enjoying the piece greatly. He couldn’t quite explain why he thought of this piece while skating but it drew him in, just like all of his earworms did. However, this was different. He wanted to skate to this one. It was like he was going to be able to finally communicate with his soulmate. Maybe if they were really a fan, they would see his performance and know it was him. They would get one step closer to each other. Pulling up a recording of the piece on his phone, he returned to Yakov’s office to demand that this be his music for his free skate. Nothing else would do. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As had become their yearly tradition, Yuuri, Yuuko, and Takeshi found themselves watching the skating season premiere at the Ice Castle. While the seasons had caused them each to grow and change, this tradition remained untouched between the three of them. Settled comfortably, they watched as Viktor entered the rink to perform his free skate for the first time that season.

“Are you really sure you don’t want to try and guess his music this year, Yuuri?” Yuuko glanced over to Yuuri, not wanting to take her eyes off of the screen for too long.

Yuuri laughed, “No, this year I want you to actually be surprised by his skating  _ and  _ his music. Honestly, I haven’t even thought of what he might be skating to.” 

“Fine,” Yuuko pouted briefly but quickly broke out into a smile as the camera focused on Viktor’s face which was graced with a slight smirk. Yuuri couldn’t help but join her with an unabashed grin. 

Viktor’s music began shyly and teasingly as he drifted across the ice but it quickly grew in confidence just as Viktor’s skating did to match. He skated proudly across the ice seemingly as the prince of the ball, dancing and jumping through invisible guests that were wooed by his charms. However, as the piano entered a gentle and flowing section, Viktor became less intense with his movements and gracefully floated across the ice as if dancing with a lover. He seemed to hold the air with such a tenderness that Yuuri wrapped his arms around himself as if to imagine being in that space. As the program neared its end, the teasing and confident piano melody returned allowing Viktor to finish with a flurry of power and pride that could only come from the most impressive and accomplished skater in the world. Viktor stood confidently at the center of the rink as his music ended, arms poised in such a way as if his lover had returned to his arms. 

Yuuri had never been jealous of air before, but now he was. 

Yuuko burst into applause next to him and Yuuri joined her, “Oh Yuuri, thank you for not guessing this year. This was such a beautiful and pleasant surprise from Viktor. Such grace, such suave, such passion. He is so incredible.”

“Yes. Yes he is,” was all Yuuri could reply. His mind was still filled with images of Viktor dancing across the ice. But more importantly, the  _ song _ . He recognized the song the moment the piano began playing through the speakers. It was Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G minor - a piece he had found months ago and quickly became obsessed with. He toyed with the idea of skating to it but found himself too nervous to ask his coach about the music. Instead he just opted to listen to it nonstop for nearly a month straight before losing interest in it. But here it was again as Viktor’s free skate music. 

_ Does this mean what I want it to mean? _ , he thought. 

Yuuri quickly brushed his silly, lovesick thoughts out of his head. Whatever had caused Viktor to choose that piece, he was grateful that such a coincidence had occurred. Yuuri’s heart felt light. He wasn’t quite sure if it was because of how Viktor skated or because of the possibility that Viktor was really his soulmate. 

It was probably just how he skated. Did you  _ see _ how he held that air? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a link to the piece Viktor skates to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2GKgFZ_ioQ). I have honestly no idea how skate-able this piece is but I like it, it's fun to listen to, and makes explaining how Viktor knows the piece a little easier for ~plot purposes~. Next chapter hopefully soon where we will take a jump in time and watch (or shall I say 'listen to') Yuuri move to Detroit! Stay tuned!   
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi! Thank you for all your lovely comments on the first 3 chapters. As promised, we get to see Yuuri's move to Detroit, however with more of a focus on just before his move. This chapter is going to do a big time jump for us - it will start with Yuuri's move and by the end we will be at the time for the first Grand Prix Final Yuuri qualifies for !! So about 5 years !! It'll go by fast but I hope y'all enjoy :)

“This is really happening.” 

Yuuri paused his attempt to shove another pair of socks into his stuffed suitcase. Looking over his shoulder he saw Yuuko lounging on his bed next to Takeshi in his nearly bare room. “Of course it’s happening. I didn’t invite you guys over to help me pack my things just for fun.”

“You know what I mean!  _ This _ ! You moving. You ... leaving,” she pauses, as if taking in for the first time what  _ leaving _ really meant. “It’s all going to be different now, you know.”

“It’s already  _ been _ different. We’ve grown up. I got this amazing opportunity, god knows how. You two have gone and done …  _ that _ ,” Yuuri gestured to the engagement ring on Yuuko’s hand. Yuuko blushed slightly. “We’re just all on our different paths now.” 

“Don’t say that like we won’t ever see you again, Yuuri!” 

“Yeah, promise you’ll visit us. At least for the wedding!” Yuuri could have sworn he saw Takeshi pout as he said that, but he would never bring up such a thing to him. 

“Yes, yes, I’ll try my best to. I won’t be gone forever.” 

“Good!” Yuuko and Takeshi sighed in relief. 

“How is that going anyways? The wedding planning, I mean.” Yuuri went back to trying to shove some last items into his various bags. 

“It’s been going  _ so _ well! I was really worried about having to pick the DJ given how polar our music tastes are, but Takeshi was kind enough to let me make that decision completely on my own! There will be no punk music at my wedding!” 

“ _ Our _ wedding, you mean.”

“Yes, yes,  _ our _ wedding but  _ my _ music taste!”

Yuuri laughed at the antics of his best friends turned lovely couple. They had found out a few years back that they were soulmates but didn’t get married right away like most couples their age did. They waited around a bit to make sure they were the right fit for one another. Though, Yuuri thought, they likely would have ended up together anyways, even if they weren’t soulmates. 

“What’s it going to be like in Detroit? You haven’t been there before, right?” Takeshi asked, steering the conversation away from wedding talk, which he knew would go on forever if Yuuko was given any more time to ramble. 

“I honestly have no clue. My new coach sent me a really thorough email on what the weather is like and how to pack. The university I enrolled in is giving a special orientation weekend for international students. We’ll get more time with our advisors so we can get adjusted to the American system and American life in general. Other than that, I really don't know. I’ll meet all my new rinkmates when I get there. I just hope my coach lets me get over my jet lag before we start training.” 

“I’m sure he will! He’s sounded nice when you’ve talked about him before,” Yuuko said.

“Isn’t he one of the best? He’ll take care of you! However, before you go, you should watch a movie about Detroit! Just to get to know what life will be like there!” Takeshi suggested.

“I really doubt there is going to be a movie about figure skaters in Detroit…” Yuuri began, but he headed to the laptop on his desk anyways. Yuuko and Takeshi joined him. “I guess I’ll just search ‘moves about Detroit’? Let’s see. The first movie is called  _ 8 mile _ . What is that about? Cars?” 

“Oh! I just watched that movie recently! It’s really cool! It’s about the American rapper Eminem and how he got his start,” Takeshi explained. 

“Like the candy?” 

“No, no, not like the candy! He’s a …” Takeshi was quickly cut off by Yuuko.

“Is this that movie from last week? I don’t think Yuuri would be interested! He’s not into American rap music like you are! I don’t even know how you got into that type of music.” 

Yuuri laughed. “Have you been getting a taste of rap music as well, Yuuko?”

“More often than I would like to! I don’t understand English very well anyways and it’s even harder when they sing so fast! I don’t understand how Takeshi gets it.”

“You just have to listen to it more. It becomes clearer with time,” Takeshi shrugs.

“It’s not like I’ll have much choice in getting to hear it more,” Yuuko sighs, rolling her eyes. As she scans across Yuuri’s desk, she catches sight of a small blue notebook that had been left out. “Hey, Yuuri, did you mean to leave this out?”

“Oh that? It’s nothing, I’m just going to leave it here.” 

“What is it?” she asked, opening it up to peer inside. The pages were covered with dates and some song names scattered about. Most of the dates though didn’t have a song name attached, just a brief description of sounds like  _ ‘soft flute’ _ or  _ ‘strong horns’ _ , “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was…”

Yuuri shook his head, “No, it’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. It’s not like there’s much in there anyways. Most of my earworms are instrumental pieces and I can’t figure out what they are.”

“I didn’t realize you had one of these. You used to tease me about mine,” she chuckled, shaking the notebook lightly.

“I used to think it was really silly but it did become a bit fun to try and see what I could figure out. Turns out that it wasn’t that much in the end.”

“Are you not going to take it with you and keep recording what you hear?” Takeshi asked.

“No, I don’t see a point. I’m not going to Detroit to find love and honestly, what are the chances that I’ll find  _ that _ person while I’m there. It’s not like a few scattered details about nameless instrumental pieces will be much help anyways. If I do meet someone, I’m not going to try and make sure they know all these pieces. I’ll just want to know them. Besides...” Yuuri trailed off, eyes drawn to one of the few posters of Viktor that still hung on the walls of his room. 

Takeshi and Yuuko nodded in agreement, both with smiles that didn’t quite reach their eyes. While they both understood Yuuri’s passion - they had all shared it at some point - they also wanted to see him happy, not just on the ice. They knew people found ways to open up in their own time, but they both wondered that if maybe Yuuri sought out his soulmate, that maybe his soulmate would bring him out of his shell and allow Yuuri to fully bloom. Maybe he just needed to meet new people in America. Or even get to skate competitively against Viktor, as was Yuuri’s dream. Anything to bring out the confidence and happiness Yuuri had on the ice to his day-to-day life. 

The pitter-patter of small paws against the wooden floor shook the three of them out of their thoughts. 

“Vicchan!” Yuuri warmly welcomed his puppy with open arms and held him close. Mari followed close behind and leaned against his door frame, “Thank you for walking him. We were able to get everything done.”

“I’m glad to hear. It’s good to see you both,” Mari said, gesturing to Yuuko and Takeshi. 

“Good to you, too. We should get going, but we will see you again at the train station!” Yuuko pulled Yuuri into a hug. “Don’t be a stranger.” 

“Of course. I’ll see you soon.” Yuuri watched his friends leave from his bare room. 

“How are you feeling?” Mari scanned her brother’s room. While the room would still be his even in his absence, she could tell there was a noticeable difference already to not only how the room looked, but how it felt. It was almost as if he was gone already.

“You don’t have to keep asking me that, I feel…” Yuuri stopped as Vicchan moved slightly in his arms. Looking down at his puppy, Yuuri felt something inside of him stir painfully. He had long ago accepted the fact that if he really wanted to pursue figure skating he would need to leave home and focus on training. The thought of leaving his friends and family behind was one thing, but Vicchan - that was something entirely different. Nothing in the months of planning prior could have prepared him for what it felt like now to look at a bundle of love in his arms and not know when he’d see it again. Tears threatened to form at the corners of his eyes. “Do you want to watch a movie?” he said suddenly. 

“Sure. What do you want to watch?”

“Takeshi said I should watch a movie about Detroit. There’s this American film called  _ 8 mile _ .” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viktor blew out a long breath while skating around the edge of the rink, building up some speed. At the back of his mind, he heard the faint pulsing of a funky bass line. Ignoring it, he quickly thought through the pointers Yakov had given him on his last jump. Trying not to tense too early, he focused his mind on exactly what muscles needed to be engaged as he pushed himself through the air. As if in slow motion, he felt himself counting the rotations. 

_ 1.. 2.. _

_ Knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti.  _

_ Wait what?  _

_ ...4 _

Viktor felt himself land on the ice, but his mind was elsewhere and he found himself stumbling to catch his balance, hand brushing the ice.  _ What in the world did that mean? Is this a song?  _ He continued to hear the beat in his head and the line started again. 

“Viktor! What happened out there? The entrance was perfect but you lost focus in the air! That’s amateur stuff!” 

Viktor tried to focus on Yakov’s yelling but he heard the line again in his head. Somehow a second time it made even less sense and he found himself breaking in a grin, laughter bubbling out of his mouth.

“What are you laughing about? You could have hurt yourself like that. Focus!” Yakov continued his rant.

“Mom’s … spaghetti,” Viktor giggled, drawing closer.

“Mom’s… what nonsense are you talking about? Stop laughing and focus!” Yakov’s anger and the repetition of the line in his head only made Viktor laugh harder, arms wrapped around his middle as he continued to try and decipher what the absurd song lyric in his head meant. Sighing, Yakov realized that nothing was going to get through to Viktor until he got this  _ nonsense _ out of him, “Viktor, stop … just go and take a moment. Clear your head of whatever spaghetti nonsense you’re thinking of.”

Nodding and laughing even harder, Viktor walked off the ice and into the locker room.

_ Mom’s spaghetti? What is my soulmate listening to?  _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuuri found that the move to Detroit changed him in countless ways. 

He had expected some level of culture shock when it came to his daily life and going to school, but there was also a fair amount of culture shock when it came to skating as well. The biggest change for him was skating with so many other people on a regular basis. He had always shared a rink with other people, but everyone at this rink was also on the same path as him to become a professional athlete whether that be in figure skating, speed skating, or hockey. At times it became overwhelming to be around so many other people in a competitive sense, especially on days that weren’t going well for him. However, he also found that conversations about emotions and mental health were held more frequently and casually. Celestino very quickly recognized Yuuri’s struggles with anxiety and gifted him with a key to the rink to practice late at night to give Yuuri extra space. At Yuuri’s university, there was constant advertisement for a free counseling center on campus. Though Yuuri doubted he would ever actually make an appointment, having the resource there felt comforting. 

Things got even better two years in when Celestino took on a new skater, Phichit Chulanont. Yuuri and Phichit became fast friends, quickly moved in with each other, and nearly became conjoined at the hip. Phichit continued to push Yuuri out of his comfort zone by encouraging him to take dance classes outside of just ballet (read: pole dancing) and pushing him to hang out with their friends outside of rink time (read: going to the club). With Phichit by his side, Yuuri felt comfortable truly being himself on and off the ice. No one quite listened to his rants about ballet technique, his musings over Viktor’s skating, and his anxiety induced fears like Phichit could. 

Yuuri could barely process how much his life had changed in such a short amount of time. 

Viktor, on the other hand, could barely process how much his  _ soulmate’s _ life had changed in the past few years. 

Ever since what Viktor had dubbed ‘the spaghetti incident’, he had noted a drastic transformation in his weekly earworms. Flipping through the pages of his calendar, Viktor pondered what would warrant such a change in music - a personality make-over, a move to a different city or country, a new group of friends, all three? 

It started slowly, he recalled. He initially realized that more and more of his earworms were in English, but not only that, the style had changed. He still heard pop music, but he also started to hear more hip-hop songs and tunes he only heard played at American and European clubs. There was one particular week where he heard a song in another unfamiliar foreign language but couldn’t quite figure out what it was besides the fact that it was tonal. He didn’t dwell much on it since the language never appeared again. 

Besides the startling initial changes and the small taste fluctuations throughout the years, one thing held constant. For a majority of the year, his soulmate would have the same few instrumental pieces stuck in their head. There would be guest appearances on some weeks from other instrumental works, but for most weeks, Viktor could basically predict what tune he would hear. It was comforting, in a way, especially given that most weeks the only music he would have stuck in his head was the music he was skating to for the season. Having a soulmate with a similar music situation made him wonder if his soulmate was some sort of performer - perhaps a dancer or even a figure skater, like himself. 

He wondered if his soulmate noticed how similar their music habits were. Did they also think Viktor was a skater or some sort of dancer? What did they think about the songs Viktor got stuck in their head? How much had they figured out about him? Had they even cared to try? 

Despite all the changes he could hear about his soulmate’s life, Viktor's life was becoming relatively stagnant. He continued to work to push the limits of figure skating, but he found himself finding less and less inspiration each year to make his routines as unique and surprising as possible. As each season came and went, Viktor wondered how much longer he would be able to continue before being forced into retirement. To him, life beyond his skating career was a dark and scary place that he intentionally ignored.

Viktor also found himself forgetting about his calendar. He still cared about the music inside his head but with his increasing fame, Viktor found less time for himself, nonetheless figuring out the identities of the songs inside his head. Some weeks would come and go without him sitting down to write that an earworm had happened. Other weeks, he would notice the earworm and intend to write it down, but would eventually forget by the time he got around to it. 

In some ways, it was better for him not to dwell on it for too long, he thought. Somewhere along the way, he stopped thinking of the earworms as his love, but more of a constant without an identity. Had he lost hope of finding his soulmate? Not exactly. Was he still reading into every earworm to map the identity of his soulmate with the same vigor that he had when he was still in his teens? Absolutely not. Without even realizing it, Viktor found that the warmest feelings in his heart were those connected to the ice. He never wanted to think about it for too long, else he’d find himself flipping through the pages of his calendar wondering why he had stopped listening so intently for his earworms in the first place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope my dumb reference to the main song from the movie 8 mile makes sense... if it didn't, basically the movie 8 mile is about the American rapper Eminem (like Takeshi said) who is from Detroit. While the movie and Eminem's life is in nooo way representative of the life Yuuri likely had while in Detroit, the main song from the movie 'Lose Yourself' has the line 'knees weak, arms are heavy / there's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti." I was trying to play with the idea of how a soulmate would react if they had a weird line in their head with zero context haha.  
> Besides that... thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


End file.
